societies of believers, it must be allowed to demonstrate a very lively interest kept up with all that part of Asia.

The Epistle to the COLOSSIANS next demands our attention. Sent from Rome by the same messenger, Tychicus, who carried that to the EPHESIANS SO called, while on the one hand it indicates the apostle to be personally unknown to the church at Colossæ, on the other, and unlike that which bore it company, it is distinctly seen to be addressed to one church alone, and directly so from the first.

That epistle to the ROMANS does not present at its conclusion stronger proofs of individuality as to the city addressed, than this to Colossæ exhibits in its (iv.) last chapter; which from v. 7. to the end beautifully tells us, by what devoted friends, Colossians, or by report well known to the Colossians, the apostle was now attended at Rome.

COLOSS. iv. 7. All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you,

already known as one of Paul's companions in travel, A. xx. 4.

who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord :

8. Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts;

9. With Onesimus (the converted slave of Philemon), a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here.

10. Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner

- probably so at the time by voluntary affection, but vide H. P. 192. Note. —

saluteth you, and Marcus (now deeply attached to him), sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you on a mission from me ere long-receive him kindly ;)

COLOSS. iv. 11. And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision.

This Justus, therefore, must have been different from the Corinthian so named, A. xviii. 6, 7., who was a Gentile convert..

These last-named persons, and these alone, of the circumcision - he remarks it with sorrow are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.

12. Epaphras,

then recently employed as messenger between Rome and Colossæ, i. 7, 8..

who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

13. For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis.

14. Luke, the beloved physician,

during the two years at Rome, A. xxviii. 30., the personal attendant of Paul

and Demas

-who at a later period, 2 TIM. iv. 10., forsook him— greet you.

15. Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.

16. And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.

The "epistle from Laodicea" was an epistle sent by Paul to that church, and from them to be trans

mitted to Colossæ. Why might it not be that to the Ephesians so called? H. P. 128, 9.

COLOSS. iv. 17. And say to Archippus,

our fellow-soldier," PHILEM. ver. 2., i. e. “Soldier of Jesus Christ," 2 TIM. ii. 3.

Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.

18. The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds- they are worn for your sake. Grace be with you. Amen.

Written and this is one of the few correct subscriptions, H. P. 195. — from Rome to the Colossians by Tychicus and Onesimus.

These two epistles, to the EPHESIANS and to the COLOSSIANS, although differing in some essential circumstances both of a local and personal nature, yet import to be two letters written by the same person, at, or nearly at, the same time, and upon the same subject, and to have been sent by the same messenger." And "every thing" accordingly "in the sentiments, order, and diction of the two writings," as Dr. Paley, with great abundance of proof, has demonstrated, "corresponds with what might be expected from this circumstance of identity or cognation in their original.” H. P. 108...125.

The short but exquisite epistle to PHILEMON (himself a Colossian, H. P. 190, 1.) as a natural pendant follows that to the COLOSSIANS, and has like that the name of Timothy in the superscription. It was sent at the same time to the same place by his recovered slave Onesimus (Coloss. iv. 7...9.) who bore Tychicus company on that errand.

On the same or nearly the same persons being joined

in Paul's salutation to the individual as to the church at Colossæ, the remarks of Dr. Paley are, as usual, exact and satisfactory. H. P. 191, 2.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS.

"Our epistle purports to have been written near the conclusion of St. Paul's imprisonment at Rome, and after a residence in that city of considerable duration.” H. P. 139, 40., all which is made out by Dr. Paley, with his usual acuteness and sagacity.

In like manner it appears that the supply which the Philippians were accustomed to send for the apostle's subsistence and relief, had been lately delayed from the want of opportunity, and that Epaphroditus, under grievous sickness, and at the peril of his life, had now conveyed their liberality to Rome. H. P. 133, 4.

But much more than this is seen in the apostle's own. retrospect; which on the limited scale of the Acts could not there be told. Their early munificence, unexampled from any other body of Christian brethren (nor would he from those elsewhere accept pecuniary aid), had followed him, it seems, first to Thessalonica once and again during his stay in that city, PHILIP. iv. 15, 16., and afterwards, when he had departed out of Macedonia, probably to Athens, certainly to Corinth. H. P. 136, 7.

On the perusal of this epistle, it has been justly remarked, that the Philippians should seem not to have afforded a single subject of complaint. In the absence, then, of all censure or rebuke from the pen of the apostle, and with the strong testimony borne (" with

joy") to the goodness of their disposition, the question may naturally arise: how came the church of Philippi thus to appear the most pure, the most affectionate, the most generous of all the churches in that day?

To one great peculiarity in the circumstances of Philippi we may fairly, in the first place, attribute some effect in producing their marked superiority as a Christian church: Philippi was exempt from a Jewish population.

In that city, it is quite clear from A. xvi. 13. that there was no synagogue, and of course therefore but a very small number of Jews. At the Proseucha or place of prayer on the sabbath, "the women" only "which resorted there," are mentioned. And Lydia, the devout Gentile, with her household, is specified in a manner that seems to indicate one person amongst a few of the same kind. At the close of the chapter, v. 40., "the brethren" could not be many: they all met in "the house of Lydia."

From these considerations, we are at liberty to infer, that the Philippians were free from persecuting Jews, and from converts of a Judaising spirit. Nor does the brief and general caution given in iii. 2, 3. to "beware of the concision," as he calls circumcision by way of contempt, at all necessitate a different supposition. The neighbourhood, or no great distance, of Thessalonica and even of Beræa, might well justify some apprehension of such danger, if bigots or false brethren from either of those places occasionally visited Philippi.

Upon this view of the subject I am inclined to interpret what the apostle says, when he addresses the Philippian believers, ii. 15., as being "in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation," or when he bids them, i. 27, 8., "strive together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing be terrified by your adversaries,"

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